Holmes-Wayne Electric Cooperative works for its member customers

Published: February 28, 2013 4:00AM

Holmes-Wayne Electric Cooperative Inc. is entering its 78th year in business, supplying electricity to more than 18,000 accounts in Holmes Wayne, Medina, Ashland, Stark, Tuscarawas, Knox and Coshocton counties. Its headquarters are in Millersburg with a district office in West Salem. Holmes-Wayne owns and maintains more than 2,200 miles of electric distribution lines and 17 substations.

As a nonprofit cooperative, Holmes-Wayne is owned and operated by its member customers and any margins received beyond the cost of providing service (profits) are assigned to each member's account, according to usage, and returned to the members. These margins are referred to as "capital credits," explained Robyn Tate, human resources/community relations director.

"We are a local company with staff that live within our community," said Tate. She explained that the business is governed by a nine-member board of trustees, elected from the membership. Trustees must live on cooperative lines.

Tate explained the beginnings of the electric distribution company were in 1935, at a time when electricity was provided only in the cities.

"It was not cost-effective to build miles of line to deliver electric to one or two homes in the rural areas," she said. Citizens of rural Holmes and Wayne counties wanted to bring electric to the countryside and community members joined with the local Farm Bureau and established Holmes Electric Cooperative, later to become Holmes-Wayne Electric Cooperative.

"The cooperative business model created a means for people to come together and improve the quality of their lives by securing electric service for themselves," she said. "That life-changing opportunity provided a generation of Americans with growth, economic security and political representation and strength. Over 75 years later, electric cooperative members continue to look to their local cooperatives to enable them to meet their needs and aspirations in equally challenging times."

In recent years, the energy industry has been very volatile with federally mandated environment statues and the increasing price to produce electric due to demand of fuel by the worldwide market, said Tate. With these changing factors, Holmes-Wayne continues to meet its mission to provide safe, reliable and economical electric service.

"With sound investment in necessary upgrades, active participation in legislative matters and developing many efficiencies and cost-saving strategies, Holmes-Wayne Electric provides one of the lowest electric distribution rates in the state of Ohio," said Tate.

In an effort to keep costs down, Holmes-Wayne has a continuous improvement culture that looks at ways to find efficiencies, to improve service and/or add benefit to its members. In the last six years, efficiencies have reduced staffing needs from 42 to 37 employees and two-cycle billing, on-line bill payment, and electronic outage management system with website view for members and daily process improvements are just a handful of the changes taking place. All of these changes have reduced personnel hours by 9.5 percent.

The cooperative has also instituted an assertive tree trimming program and line replacement initiative that has increased reliability and reduced electric line loss. These programs have resulted in a reduction of 61,673 truck miles during the last five years, or 18.6 percent reduction in miles, said Tate. "Both of these programs save the cooperative owners $500,000 a year."

Holmes-Wayne continues to offer home energy audits to its members, using state-of-the-art equipment to detect where improvements can be made to save energy and money.

Holmes-Wayne holds its annual meeting on the fourth Thursday in June. It's a time for member/owners to learn more about their cooperative and participate in the election of trustees. There is an annual scholarship distributed to six area high school students, totalling $12,000; annual energy savings days in the fall at both Millersburg and West Salem locations and in the summer, Holmes-Wayne hosts a legislative breakfast for members to meet federal and/or state Congressmen.

Concern for Community is one of the seven guiding principles at Holmes-Wayne, with Operation Round Up a way for cooperative members to give to those in need. Members can choose to round their monthly utility bills up to the nearest dollar and that spare change is placed in the nonprofit foundation. Since its inception in January 2006, the foundation has given more than $325,000 back to the community.

For nine years, HWEC has participated in the American Cancer Society's Relay for Life and has raised more than $80,000 for the ACS.

Holmes-Wayne can be reached at 330-674-1055 or email rtate@hwecoop.com. Visit the website at www.hwecoop.com.